NABLUS, Sunday, February 14, 2021 (WAFA) – Israel today notified Palestinians in the town of Yatma, south of Nablus, in the northern occupied West Bank, of its intention to demolish their homes, according to a local activist.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors colonial settlement activities in the northern West Bank, told WAFA Israeli forces handed 15 Palestinian residents demolition notices against their houses, under the pretext they were built without a permit.

Israel uses many pretexts to justify its demolition policy, including the pretext of building having been constructed without a building permit. However, as the Occupying Power, Israel is prohibited from demolishing the property of the protected Palestinian people unless strictly justified by military necessity. The extensive destruction of property carried out by Israel without military necessity constitutes a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and may constitute a war crime, said the human rights organization, Al-Haq.

Moreover, this policy of unlawfully demolishing Palestinian buildings and structures, taken alongside many other similarly unlawful policies and actions, reveal Israel’s intention to forcibly transfer Palestinian communities from their homes, it said.

“Having their properties demolished and destroyed, the Palestinian people are deprived of their right to develop their resources and are ultimately denied from exercising their right to self-determination,” added the center.

T.R.